Thursday, March 13, 2014

When you get a mission call to Ecuador expect a fun/ stressful surprise to come your way! Last week I was blessed to be able to go to Washington D.C for the day to receive my Visa. Yes only a day. Let me explain the horrific flight schedule. I left Idaho Falls, around 6 got to Salt lake around 7 and had to wait until 1 in the morning to get on another flight. Thankfully my sister lives near Salt Lake so she picked me up, being the most amazing sister that she is, from the airport and I got to take a 20 minute power nap after dinner before my next flight. Then we board in Salt Lake to Atlanta and that flight was 31/2 hours, but the time changes so I was in Atlanta at 5 to 6 in the morning, speaking of which that airport is so cool their is a restaurant called bojangles, lastly I flew to D.C and arrived at around 9 in the morning. So I basically received no sleep and then was expected to look my sunday best which was not really working all that well for the brain. Anyways the important thing was that I had a great experience. Two other missionaries heading to Ecuador and I were picked up from the airport and driven directly to the Ecuadorian Consulates office. All the people who worked there were so kind and generous they let us walk around so we decided to walk down this street and it turned out it would probably be a 45 minute walk to the National Mall and back so we decided not to risk being overly late so we, I, did a little bit of shopping and then went back to the office. The coolest thing for me though was that I got to talk to a couple of people from Ecuador who were coming in to do certain things. They wanted to know why I was going to Ecuador and I just told them the truth. I was serving the Lord and going on a mission to Quito!! One woman was genuinely excited that I would be able to experience her country. She became so happy when she knew I was going to Quito and gave me a hug as she left. I immediately felt this love for her and I knew at that moment that I am meant to go to Ecuador because of how much my heart had swollen from talking to her. This experience was truly something that I needed to write down and I was just so blessed to be able to learn from her. If we think about it most of the time some of us are not so welcoming to immigrants coming into our country just to experience life here. I was so shocked by her want for me to experience her way of living that I felt the need to share with her the way I live and let her know that she is welcome to experience the wonderful land of Southern California whenever she wants. The influence she had on me to change my mind was truly powerful. It just made me so excited to go to Quito!! I cannot wait to actually put my strength to the test and just to be around people like her all the time. Thank you Lord for your blessings!
Mads

About Me

From Claremont, CA. Studying at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. My major is Psychology with a minor in Spanish and I hope to become and Marriage and Family therapist. I just came home from an amazing 18 months in Quito, Ecuador